


She Wears Her Hair in Waves

by nevertothethird



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: Angst, Friendship/Love, Gen, Giving Piz Gravitas, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2018-01-14 04:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1253635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevertothethird/pseuds/nevertothethird
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was always his intention that the part he kept for himself would be larger than it is. Looking at Logan Echolls looking at his girlfriend, and his girlfriend looking at Logan Echolls, he knows that both of them gave everything away for the other years before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Wears Her Hair in Waves

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into 中文 available: [She Wears Her Hair in Waves [translation]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1439380) by [Navi (telcontaro)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/telcontaro/pseuds/Navi)



> **Spoilers:** Everything. Future fic, based on what we know from the movie.
> 
> **Warning:** Beta-less. [Scandalpantsstuff](http://scandalpantsstuff.tumblr.com/) cannot be held responsible for awkward phrasing, or misappropriations of commas. That’s all me. It was her suggestion, however, that I post this somewhere other than tumblr before the movie comes out and makes this AU. Since she's never wrong...here it is!

He’s not in love with her. But that’s only because he’s told himself he can’t be. He won’t let himself be. If he believed for a second that she was in danger of falling in love with him, he’d willingly give up that last piece of himself.

When they first started dating again, the piece of his heart he kept back was rather large in size. They were old friends, reconnecting, and then casually dating. But as the days of their relationship turned into weeks, turned into six months, he could feel that the part he was holding back was shrinking. Without being consciously aware of it, he was working towards giving her everything.

He’s started to figure out that with Veronica Mars you should be the most worried when she’s not speaking. Her quips and remarks can sometimes sting, but it’s better when she’s talking. When she ignores you, or refuses to dignify anything you say with a response, is when you’re in trouble of being cut from her life.

Once, he overheard her while she was on the phone with Wallace. From what Piz could gather from her end of the conversation, Wallace had broken up with yet another great girl for some intangible reason.

“What was it this time?”

At Wallace’s answer, Veronica threw her head back with a groan and rolled her eyes. She put her hand over the receiver so Wallace couldn’t hear, and turned to Piz. “This one used the word ‘literally’ too often.” Shaking her head, she removed her hand from the phone. “Wallace, that is _literally_ the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”

She winked at Piz, and then turned around to finish the conversation. The longer she was on the phone with Wallace, the more animated she became, and the louder her voice got. Her voice was beautiful when she yelled. Intense, gravely, and full of passion.

Piz tried to remember a single time she had yelled at him, but he couldn’t up with one. She never had. Not for anything. Even things that past girlfriends unanimously agreed were unacceptable, like the way he could never manage to cover his mouth when he sneezed, didn’t give her pause. As he sat on her couch listening to her talk to Wallace, he kind of wished that the next time he sneezed she’d threaten to sew his lips shut if he didn’t cover his mouth.

The month before she returned to Neptune he asked for the ex-boyfriend list. He knew that the summaries provided didn’t articulate the full depth and breadth of each relationship. It was to be expected that elements of her past relationships were glossed over. But he got a couple sentence explanation of what exactly happened with Duncan Kane, Troy Vandergraff, Michael  and Brent (both from undergrad), as well as Eric and Jimmy (both from law school).

She was lying on her stomach as she regaled him with her dating history, wearing the hooded sweatshirt she brought with her. His offer of one of his own t-shirts was shrugged off with a, “I’m good thanks.”

“So, what about Logan?”

She shrugged, and as she buried her face into her pillow, her voice came out a little muffled. “What’s to say? You know about Logan.”

It didn’t occur to him to press the issue. Or to ask the questions he wanted answers to: Is he the reason you left Neptune? Do you guys ever talk? Does it bother you seeing his face splashed on tabloids from time to time?

The week after their true relationship confessions he was at her place, waiting for her to finish getting ready for the night. The two of them had dinner plans with her friends Lauren and Jake to celebrate Veronica’s birthday. Her voice carried from the bathroom, asking him to use her phone to text Lauren that they’d be fifteen minutes late.

It felt like a victory, being asked to do that. Felt like he won some sort of battle. She wasn’t in love with him, and he knew that, but she gave him the passcode to her phone, and that had to mean something. As he scrolled to Lauren’s name, he accidentally went too far and saw that Logan Echolls still had a place in her contact list. Clicking on his name, Piz saw a photo of Logan presumably from his high school days. He was wearing a puka shell necklace and had highlights in his hair, and Piz felt just a little sick at the thought that for the past nine years, Veronica had been transferring his number from one phone to the next.

But then it occurred to him that maybe this is what she does. Maybe it’s a weird sentimental quirk, and she kept all of her ex-boyfriend’s numbers. He knew Duncan Kane’s number wouldn’t be in there, for obvious reasons, but hoped to find one of the other names she rattled off the week prior. He wasn’t too surprised that as he scrolled through her contacts no other names belonged to her exes.

No Erics. No Brents. No Jimmys. Just one Logan Echolls.

He boards a plane early on Saturday morning, convincing himself that this has nothing to do with being insecure, and everything to do with being a supportive boyfriend. He knows that high school wasn’t exactly easy for her, and so he’s going for that reason alone. Besides, Wallace and Mac are his friends too, and it’s been far too long since they’ve all been together. He’s going for Veronica. His fringe benefits are Mac and Wallace. Logan is just there.

He spends most of the flight repeating the words, “She’s there for business. She told me she’d be back.”

So he doesn’t know why, after checking in at the reunion as Veronica Mars’ plus one, he simply stands to the side and watches her as she talks to Logan. This is his moment to be the romantic boyfriend and make his way over to surprise her. Instead he watches them long enough to notice that their every move and gesture almost synch up. He leans forward to pick up his drink, and she leans back in counterpoint. She angles her right shoulder to be closer to his body, and he does the same with his. She tosses her head back and laughs, and he leans forward so she can catch the rest of his sentence.

Logan notices him first, and Piz is both intrigued and confused by his response. He doesn’t grin, he doesn’t smirk, he doesn’t gloat with his eyes. He just drops his head and looks a little resigned.

Piz is reminded of a time nine years prior when Logan asked him, almost pleaded with him, to let him know if he had seen Veronica. Even then Piz knew his own response was less than gracious. He remembers Logan being quiet and almost shy when he walked away. Logan actually _thanked him_. None of that fit with the image Piz had constructed of the millionaire playboy, but he didn’t pay it much mind at the time.

Watching Logan now, as he gestures with his head to get Veronica to turn and notice Piz, he acknowledges it still doesn’t fit. He has no idea who Logan Echolls is.

She looks over her shoulder and sees Piz standing there. It’s only for a second, but Piz notices her hesitation before smiling back. It hurts a little to see her obvious disappointment when she turn to talk to Logan and sees that he’s slid out of the booth without a word. Her eyes track Logan’s movement as he begins chatting up a brunette, and her lips turn downward in a slight frown, before getting up to talk to Piz.

Her previous discomfort, or maybe discontent, is gone and she flashes him a smile as she walks. It’s an odd moment for it to happen, but he can actually feel another piece of that part he’s kept for himself fall away.

When they meet in the middle of the room she tilts her cheek up for a kiss. It puts him at ease to see that they also have their own rhythm. It’s different than what she has with Logan, but it’s something. He’s not just a placeholder.

“Let me guess,” she says, folding her arms across her chest. “You got on the subway and just kept on going?”

“It was a hell of a ride, let me tell you. I think the old lady I sat next to on the plane put something in my drink because I don’t remember a thing from the flight.” He puts a hand to his mouth and the other to his chest, feigning horror. “I hope she didn’t take advantage of me.”

He makes about a dozen dorky jokes every day. She usually indulges him in half of them, and then politely smiles at the others. But she does neither now, and is just looking at him with a blank stare.

So he goes for an old standby and waves a hand in front of her face. “Earth to Mars. Come in Mars.”

This gets the desired response. She groans and punches him lightly in the shoulder. “Don’t you ever get sick of that Piznarski?”

“You’d think so.” Clearing his throat, he shoves his hands in his pockets and bumps her hip affectionately. “I’ve missed you. How goes tossing the shysters?”

She shrugs and does her best to keep her eyes locked with his, but Piz can see that she’s also trying to use her peripheral vision to figure out where Logan is. “It goes.” And then she stops trying to pretend she’s looking for Logan and purposefully scans the room.

Piz hears her let out a small exhale when her eyes find Logan talking to a small group of guys. He wonders if her relief is because Logan is no longer chatting up the brunette, or if it’s because the guys he’s talking to are good people.

“I like your hair.”

Frowning at him, she picks up a strand of the wavy blonde tresses to examine it, and then seems to realize she’s wearing it differently than she does while in New York. “Something about the California air, I guess. Makes straightening it just seem wrong.”

“I haven’t seen you wear it like that since college.”

Her answer is a smile, softer than almost any smile he’s ever seen. She’s lit up from the inside, and he’s about to give her another piece of him. But then he just knows he’s not the one who is making her smile like that.

Her eyes drift to Logan as she plays with her hair. “Yeah, I kind of forgot how much I liked it.”

He loops an arm around her waist, and whispers dorky jokes into her ear, and together they go to the bar to grab a drink.

It was always his intention that the part he kept for himself would be larger than it is. Looking at Logan Echolls looking at his girlfriend, and his girlfriend looking at Logan Echolls, he knows that both of them gave everything away for the other years before.

For right now she’s still his girl, so they’re going to have a drink. And he’ll tell a few stories about his jackass station manager wanting him to play a little more ‘adult alternative.’ She’ll ask him about what made him hop a plane for California. And they’ll laugh. And while they do she’ll be looking for Logan Echolls.

Piz is not in love with her. But he could be, easily. And he wants to be, desperately. But she’s never worn her hair in waves for him.


End file.
